Child Asthma Care Measures Cut Readmission

(HealthDay News) — For children hospitalized with asthma, compliance with care measures is associated with a reduction in readmission rates, according to a study published online June 16 in Pediatrics.

Lora Bergert, MD, from the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine in Honolulu, and colleagues examined the impact of compliance with Children’s Asthma Care (CAC; CAC-1, CAC-2, and CAC-3) measures. Compliance was assessed in pediatric patients aged 2 to 18 years hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of asthma. Readmission and emergency department utilization rates were compared preimplementation (January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2007; 231 patients) and postimplementation (January 1, 2008, through June 30, 2012; 532 patients).

The researchers found that, from October 1, 2009, through June 30, 2012, compliance with CAC-3 was 95%. From January 1, 2009, through September 30, 2009, compliance with the postdischarge follow-up appointment was 69%, increasingly significantly from October 1, 2009, through June 30, 2012, to reach 90% (P<0.001). In the 91–180-day postdischarge interval, there was a significant decrease in readmission rates postimplementation (odds ratio, 0.29).

“In children hospitalized with asthma, compliance with the asthma core measures and the postdischarge follow-up appointment with the primary care provider was associated with reduced readmission rates at 91–180 days after discharge,” the authors write.